Number of children in Japan falls to new low

Japan's ministry of internal affairs and communications said children accounted for just 12.8 per cent of the population.

AFP: Yoshikazu Tsuno

The Japanese government says the number of children in Japan has fallen to a new low as the country celebrates Children's Day.

There were an estimated 16.33 million children aged under 15 as of April 1, down 160,000 from a year earlier, according to Japan's internal affairs and communications ministry.

It was the 33rd straight annual decline and the lowest level since records began in 1950, the ministry said.

The ministry said children accounted for just 12.8 per cent of the population.

In contrast, the ratio of people aged 65 or older was at a record high of 25.6 per cent.

Of major countries with a population of at least 40 million, Japan had the lowest ratio of children to the total population - compared with 19.5 per cent for the United States and 16.4 per cent for China.

The proportion of people aged 65 or over is forecast to reach nearly 40 per cent of Japan's population in 2060, the government said.